Questions about economy rein in home buying, selling
Economic uncertainty could be putting a damper on the spring real estate market as many Canadians, Edmontonians included, feel less wealthy and secure.
The on-and-off again United States administration's trade policy has sent markets careening downward, and then upward on every real or inferred announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump.
'Uncertainty can make people put plans on hold even if interest rates are coming down and expected to come down even more because if you can't pay the bills, it doesn't matter how cheap a mortgage is,' says Kingsley Ma, area vice-president with Re/Max Canada in Vancouver. Although the impact may be more acute in Canada's most expensive markets, where in March the average price of a single-family home in Vancouver exceeded $2 million, Edmonton is not immune to the ongoing uncertainty either.
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Winnipeg Free Press
11 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Japan's SoftBank to take $2 billion stake in computer chip maker Intel
BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese technology giant SoftBank Group plans to take a $2 billion stake in computer chip maker Intel as it deepens its involvement in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and other advanced technology in the United States, the companies said Monday. Shares in both companies fell Tuesday after the announcement, which coincided with unconfirmed reports that President Donald Trump is considering having the U.S. government buy a stake in the chip maker. SoftBank invests in an array of companies that it sees as holding long-term potential. It has been stepping up investments in the United States since Trump returned to the White House. In February, its chairman Masayoshi Son joined Trump, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Larry Ellison of Oracle in announcing a major investment of up to $500 billion in a project to develop artificial intelligence called Stargate. SoftBank plans to buy $2 billion of Intel's common stock, paying $23 per share. 'Semiconductors are the foundation of every industry, Son said in a statement. 'This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role.' Intel helped launch Silicon Valley but has fallen behind rivals like Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and is shedding thousands of workers and slashing costs under its new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan. Intel plans to end the year with 75,000 'core' workers excluding subsidiaries, through layoffs and attrition, down from 99,500 core employees at the end of 2024. The company previously announced a 15% workforce reduction. Trump recently said Tan, who was made CEO in March, should resign but after meeting with him last week said he had an 'amazing story.' SoftBank's shares were down 2.2% Tuesday in Tokyo, while Intel's dropped 3.7% on Monday in New York.
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
What Trump gets right (and wrong) about ending the Ukraine war
When it comes to Russia's war in Ukraine, Donald Trump is what real estate investors call a motivated seller. Highly motivated. The U.S. President is so eager to make a deal that he keeps raising the price he's willing to have Ukraine pay. That's why Europe's leaders dropped everything and rushed to Washington on Monday. They were there to try to talk Mr. Trump off a ledge. Prior to his meeting last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump had sounded like he was finally aligned with his NATO allies: He wanted Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire and said there would be consequences if it didn't. But after their Alaska confab, Mr. Trump immediately dropped talk of a ceasefire, or punishing Russia if it continued attacking Ukraine. He also appeared to have accepted many of Mr. Putin's long-standing demands, including that Ukraine give up territory that Russia hasn't been able to conquer. And Mr. Trump is characterizing his imagined role in future peace talks as a neutral mediator, rather than Ukraine's ally. If anything, the U.S. President keeps acting like Russia's advocate. He's made many public demands of Mr. Zelensky, but none of Mr. Putin. On Sunday night, Mr. Trump banged this out on social media: 'President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.' Ah, if Mr. Zelensky would only stop his war against Russia – why did he start it, anyhow? Zelensky, Trump express hope for three-way talks with Putin as European leaders gather at White House Hence the Ukrainian President's last-minute trip to Washington, accompanied by a bodyguard of European leaders. To give Mr. Trump some credit, he gets a few important things right about the war in Ukraine. He also appears to have many other things entirely upside down. Mr. Trump gets that it would be better for everyone if the war ended. He also gets that continuing the war until Russia is expelled from every inch of Ukraine is not realistic, as the front line has for some time been moving, albeit slowly, in the wrong direction. He gets that land will have to be conceded. And it's not wrong for the U.S. President to be talking directly with the Russian President. You can't make peace without talking with the adversary. But Mr. Trump has been consistently unable and unwilling to agree that Mr. Putin is an adversary, or even an obstacle. Sitting next to Mr. Zelensky at their joint press conference on Monday, Mr. Trump repeatedly called Mr. Putin's invasion, 'Biden's war.' When Mr. Zelensky praised American weapons, Mr. Trump was quick to interject that these were no longer gifts, as under former president Joe Biden, because 'they pay us for the equipment.' In response to a question asking how much the U.S. was willing to spend supporting Ukraine, the President said: 'We're not giving anything' to Ukraine, 'we're selling weapons.' Then he went on to condemn Mr. Biden for giving aid. If the Europeans want to buy U.S. military equipment and donate it to Ukraine, the Trump White House is okay with that, but it no longer considers the defence of Ukraine to be a matter on which it is willing to spend one American nickel. Opinion: On Ukraine, Donald Trump speaks loudly and carries a small stick As such, it's hard to believe that even if the U.S. badgers Ukraine into making enough concessions to satisfy Mr. Putin, Washington will offer Ukraine what it needs: security guarantees against another Russian invasion. Would such promises from Washington even be worth the paper? Mr. Trump is in a very strong position against Russia, which is a weak shadow of the old Soviet Union. Yet Mr. Trump has acted as if the best strategy is not to press Mr. Putin into concessions, but to concede until he cries uncle. The approach has so far yielded no results. On Monday, the Western allies discussed how to craft security guarantees for Ukraine that would be NATO-like without actual admission to NATO; the Kremlin quickly issued a statement rejecting Western troops in Ukraine as guarantors of any future settlement. The last thing Mr. Trump gets very wrong in the relative power and heft of Russia and Europe. Britain, France, Germany and Italy have a combined population of around 280 million. That is double Russia's population. Add in the rest of the European Union and the EU plus Britain has 520 million people, or nearly four times as many as Russia. The IMF estimates that, at current exchange rates, the Russian economy is slightly smaller than Canada's. The EU economy is 10 times larger; with Britain, the European economy is 12 times bigger. Even at purchasing power parity, the EU-plus-Britain has an economy five times the size of Russia's. Europe also has a larger and more advanced industrial base. For example, Europe produced nearly 14 million motor vehicles last year. Russia produced 983,000. Washington should always choose the Atlantic alliance over Moscow. Mr. Trump's tendency to sometimes lean in the other direction is entirely irrational. But the wide disparity in economic and demographic power between Europe and Russia is also a reminder that, had they not allowed their militaries and defence industries to go to seed, the Europeans could stand up to Russia, and backstop Ukraine, even without American support.
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Carney, Ford focus on how to make Canada globally competitive amid ‘unpredictable' Trump
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford put the focus on making Canada globally competitive rather than securing a trade deal with the United States as they met in Ottawa on Monday. Carney and Ford were meeting on Parliament Hill as trade talks with the United States show little signs of progressing. Ford was asked by reporters after the meeting Monday what he felt the chances were for a tariff-free deal with the United States, but he said U.S. President Donald Trump's behaviour was 'unpredictable.' 'He'll come out with some cockamamie thing tomorrow that we don't even know about, right?,' Ford said in response. 'I've always said that we can never predict what Donald Trump is going to do, but ... we can create the environment and the conditions for companies to come here and invest.' Trump imposed blanket tariffs of 35 per cent on Canadian products that are not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement on trade at the start of the month, in addition to tariffs targeting sectors such as steel and aluminum. Ford went on to speak about the need to use Ontario-made steel from companies such as Algoma in future infrastructure projects like a hypothetical pipeline. 'We have to beat (Trump) at his own game and make sure that we're more competitive and onshore as many products as possible,' he said. Ford said that nothing concrete came out of the meeting, but he told reporters that he and Carney are 'on the same page.' 'We're united on the message of, 'Let's start worrying about how we can be competitive here.'' Opinion: Ford and Carney's chummy relationship is good for Canada at large Carney did not speak to reporters on his way out, but on his way into the meeting, he said the pair will focus on aspects of the Canadian economy that 'we can control.' 'We'll talk about the housing sector, we'll talk about steel, auto, new sectors of the economy (like) artificial intelligence, what we're doing in terms of making Canada competitive,' Carney said. Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc was also on Parliament Hill Monday morning and did not stop to answer questions as reporters followed him through the hall. Carney said LeBlanc was set to provide an update about the status of trade talks with the Americans. Ford is in Ottawa for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, which runs until Wednesday. Trump has been preoccupied in recent weeks trying to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. On Monday he is set to hold a series of meetings at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, several European leaders and NATO's secretary-general. Carney is not attending those meetings.
